What to do, what to do?

 There is so much talk right now on social media about where Dems have failed and what we can do to survive the next 4+ years. Here’s the thing, the Dems do excel at talking to each other. Maybe because we are the last well-educated group in the country, but we can talk and talk. But not much in the action department. 

Advice on self-care and donations, all good. But a definite lack of advice on how to truly survive. I mean, food, shelter, clothing, employment, medical care, those kinds of needs. Those populations will need more than talk. Here’s a few suggestions to really make a difference in your area. 

• Buy and hire locally! That should be universal. Opt out of corporate sources whenever possible. Money you spend in your neighborhood STAYS in your neighborhood.

• Have a small, successful business? Think about hiring another worker or two, instead of socking your profits away or making a luxury purchase. Or, raise your existing employees salaries. See how you can take care of more folks instead of seeing how you can squeeze your labor dollar. We can change capitalism on Main Street if we try. 

• Know someone who is talented but can’t start their small business without help? Be the mentor and investor for them.

• Have a skill that you normally charge for? Start offering it for free once a week or in some regular way to benefit those who can’t afford it. 

• Having a yard sale? Make a large Free table. Most “stuff” isn’t worth anything to you, but might be a necessity for someone else. 

• Start and moderate a neighborhood online blog, to function like a FB group, but not in a corporate space. So many opportunities for neighbors to offer services, ask for help, keep everyone informed on local issues. So good for civic involvement! If you already have one, be more active in posting and volunteering help.

• Food banks, church groups and other organizations always need volunteers. Find an organization that you can help with regularly. All kinds of skills can find a home - computer work, tiny home building, deliveries, etc.  - not just handing out food. 

• If you think you might not be around in 4 years, think about leaving money to one of the services in your town instead of a large charity. If you know a family who could use a benefactor, leave some to them instead of a niece or nephew already doing well. 

Finally, take notice of how western North Carolina neighbors stepped up and provided food, shelter, flood clearing and support, everything free for those caught by the flooding. The same thing will happen in California, I hope. It can be done. So many people will be left with nothing after 4 years of GOP malfeasance. You can save our democracy by saving your neighbors. It’s that simple. 

Portents of our future

I predict this will be the era of the American refugee. 

We are halfway there already. Sure, plenty of liberals are moving to Canada or Portugal, or at least thinking about it. But those aren’t the refugees I’m talking about. Practically unnoticed, hundreds of thousands of retired folk, families and young people are already living in their cars, vans and rvs. The reasons are many, but most commonly because shelter is a luxury now, when the cost of renting an apartment or owning a house is so ridiculously high. 

With Appalachia a mud hole of flood debris and California burning, there will be even more people in tent encampments and WalMart parking lots. More jobs lost, more businesses closed, all tourism dead. Two destructive “natural disasters” in one season, on different coasts, different elements (wind +water vs wind + fire) but both amped up by more dangerous weather conditions. This is what climate change will increasingly look like - one city after another wiped out and all those people homeless and adrift. 

This will be the era when we lose tangible connections to our past.  Instead of things and buildings, we will carry our culture in our hearts and memories. Our car trunks will be filled only with the essentials of the day. Our economy - designed to sell cheap stuff to fill multiple rooms in a home - will stutter and fall, and even more jobs lost, more evictions, more refugees. 

I frequently drive through a part of Morganton, NC that was mostly spared the recent flooding, except along one road that bridged a stream. The entire area is still being cleaned up 3 months later, but the most heartbreaking loss is the little storage business where every one of those 50 or so metal carrels has sodden, muddy garbage piled high in front of the doors. That garbage used to be memories, heirlooms, things held for the next generation. Kids’ toys, photo albums, extra chairs for Thanksgiving. 

It’s an object lesson, both that storage spaces won’t save our things, but also, that we will have nothing of our lives to leave to our children, if we don’t mitigate  climate change, and blunt the effects of end-stage capitalism. 

So think on how long we want to wander in the wilderness before we take this seriously. Think on what this incoming administration will do to advance Bitcoin and AI, both massive energy hogs, and to free up industry to burn, baby, burn. 

That idea should give everyone PTSD.